If you look at the unemployment rate alone, you might conclude that the labor market is tightening.

The overall jobless rate declined to 6.6% last month — the lowest rate in six years. At the same time, employment, as measured by the survey of households, jumped by a whopping 600,000 last month.

On the other hand, the payroll numbers suggest just the opposite. Jobs by this measure rose by a measly 113,000 in the month, and this in the wake of an even smaller increase in December. In the last three months, job growth has averaged only 154,000, down from an average of 194,000 for 2013 and 201,000 in the three previous months.

The stock market greeted these numbers positively. Investors were more eager to buy than to sell, sending the popular averages higher by over 1% each on Friday.

Wall Street was pleased that the jobless rate fell while household-measured employment shot up. These are signs of a robust economy, leading to gains in consumer spending and more earnings for business. And it doesn’t bother investors that this strength might cause the Federal Reserve to tighten its monetary policy — it is already doing that, so no big deal.

Those who worry more about the absence of easy money were also cheered by Friday’s numbers — they simply placed greater emphasis on the payroll data. In doing so, they convinced themselves that that Fed might take a hiatus from tightening, especially with new Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen about to testify before Congress on the state of the economy and the Fed’s reaction to it.

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Me, I would tend to side with those who do not regard January’s jobs data all that bullishly. This is because there are lots of other negatives that are concealed by the headline data.

For example, in January more than one-third of workers counted as unemployed were jobless for a half-year or more. This is basically unchanged from a year ago.

Many of these people have simply stopped looking for work, although they would take a job if they could find one. This is easier said than done, since there are three unemployed for every job out there, according to the BLS.

On the positive side, temporary-help agencies added jobs last month, while the quit rate rose. People don’t usually leave their jobs voluntarily unless they are sure they can find another one.

The payroll data are noteworthy by the fact that three previously strong sectors shed jobs — education, retail and health care. This last category posted its first job loss in recent memory, after rising by only 2,600 in December, suggesting that this might reflect the new economics of health care in the wake of the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare.

Governments at all levels cut the most jobs in 15 months.

As for the household measure of employment, it includes people who are working part time and in jobs below their education or skill level. It also includes many who list themselves as self-employed but are really in between jobs, so it’s not as good as it looks.

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